Coach Speak

Former Minnesota State assistant coach Jessica Keller led
Columbia College (Mo.) to a 27-6 record in 2015-16

A couple of months ago we tweeted a graphic regarding former members of the Minnesota State football staff who were now members of coaching staffs with programs in the Missouri Valley Conference.

A couple of them (Spence Nowinski at Illinois State and Joe Klanderman at North Dakota State) are also former Maverick student-athletes, but the rest of the names on the list - Luke Groth (South Dakota), Carl Pelini (Youngstown State) and Luke Schluesner, Jason Eck and Jake Dickert (South Dakota State) - came from the staffs of former coach Jeff Jamrog and current coach Todd Hoffner.

Other former Minnesota State student-athletes who now coach at the collegiate level include Tim Huber (baseball head coach at Augustana), who played baseball here when Dean Bowyer skippered the Mavericks, Matt Parrington (head coach at Macalester) also played for Bowyer, while longtime Gustavus women's hockey hockey coach Mike Carroll played baseball and hockey for Bowyer and Don Brose, respectively.  All-America outside hitter Jen Jacobs is a volleyball assistant coach at Augsburg, while former Maverick defensive back Jordan Malone is a current member of Todd Hoffner's staff at MSU and All-America goaltender Shari (Vogt) Dickerman has been a member of the Maverick women's hockey coaching staff since 2009.  Darren Blue, who played hockey and golfed for the Mavericks, has been an assistant coach with Minnesota State since 2000.  Speaking of golf, head coach of the Minnesota State men's team?  Bryant Black?  Yes, he played for the Mavericks.

Minnesota Duluth football head coach Curt Weise played quarterback for a few years at MSU before transferring to Wisconsin-Stevens Point and former Maverick defensive lineman Ben Halder is entering his eighth season as an assistant coach at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.  Former Minnesota State All-American Jodi Wendt is the head women's golf coach at Winthrop (S.C.). Anna Voltmer (played for Ann Walker and Pam Gohl at Minnesota State) is an assistant coach with the women's basketball program at Hamline. 

Augustana football coach Jerry Olszewski was a member of Dan Runkle's football staff, as was St. Cloud State offensive coordinator Chris Mussman.  Jamie Skadeland, who was a graduate assistant with the Maverick women's volleyball program under former coach Dennis Amundson, has spent the last eight seasons as the head coach at Colorado School of Mines.  Aaron Roussell, who was a graduate assistant for two seasons on Ann Walker's women's basketball staff, is the women's basketball head coach at Bucknell.  The head coach of the track & field programs at St. Scholastica, Kirk Naumann, is a former graduate assistant with us, as was Steve Jones, who is an assistant track & field coach at Grand Valley State.

Megan Vogal, an assistant coach at UW-Green Bay, was a volunteer assistant coach with the women's basketball program when Gohl was the head coach. Suzy Venet (a former Walker assistant) has spent the last 11 seasons as the head coach at Mount Union (Ohio). Jess (Abrahams) Hartmann was on Lori Fish's women's basketball staff at MSU from 2004-08 and rejoined Fish at St. Cloud State where's she's been an assistant coach since 2013. And speaking of St. Cloud State, head coach of the Huskies women's soccer program is one of our former assistants, Gretta Arvesen.

Taking it step further in developing a list of former coaches and student-athletes who were members of our teams and staffs under our current head coaches, the list gets even longer.
Wrestling (head coach Jim Makovsky)
Ryan Ludwig - Head Coach - Northern Illinois University Wrestling
Sam Barber - Head Coach - Air Force Academy Wrestling
Adam Aho - Head Coach - University of Mary Wrestling
Brady Wilson - Assistant Coach - St. Cloud State Wrestling
Brandon Eichmann - Assistant Coach - University of Mary Wrestling

Baseball (head coach Matt Magers)
Brandon Potter - Head Coach - St. John Fischer College Baseball
Andy Judkins - Assistant Coach - Butler University Baseball
Shaun Wegner - Assistant Coach - UW-Whitewater Baseball
Adam Christ - Assistant Coach - University of Illinois Baseball

Women’s Golf (head coach Nick Campa)
Matt Ward - Head Coach - Mesa State Men's Golf

Football (head coach Todd Hoffner)
Jamie Bisch - Assistant Coach - Midland University (Neb.)
Mike Cunningham - Assistant Coach - Winona State
Chris Brunkhorst - Strength & Conditioning Coach - Minot State
Brian Bell - Assistant Coach - New Mexico State

Women’s Basketball (head coach Emilee Thiesse)
Jessica Keller – Head Coach - Columbia College (Mo.) Women's Basketball
Brent Pollari – Head Coach St. Mary's (Minn.) - Women's Basketball

Soccer (head coach Brian Bahl)
Nicole Dooher - Graduate Assistant Coach - Concordia St Paul Women's Soccer
Caitlin Graboski - Assistant Coach - St Thomas (Minn.) Women's Soccer

Softball (head coach Lori Meyer)
Kelsey Thompson - Head Coach - University of Sioux Falls Softball
Mollie Bjelland - Assistant Coach - Missouri Western Softball
Chelsea Erickson - Assistant Coach - Missouri Southern Softball
Kim Zarling - Head Coach - Beloit College (Wis.)

Men's Basketball (head coach Matt Margenthaler)
Gameli Ahelegbe - Assistant Coach - University of South Dakota men's basketball
Austin Hansen - Assistant Coach - University of South Dakota men's basketball
Nigel Jenkins - Head Coach - Waldorf University
Connor O'Brien - Assistant Coach - St. John's (Minn.)

"I feel like such a huge part of who I am as a coach came out of my experience at Minnesota State," said Jessica Keller, who led Columbia (Mo.) to a 27-6 record in 2015-16. 

"I was fortunate to join a women’s basketball program that had recently won a national title, with the memories and expectations still fresh in everyone’s mind and Pam Gohl and Amy Sander there to teach me how they got to the top. I got to know the program’s alumnae, who proudly shared their experiences, the sacrifices and expectations that brought them so much more than big banners. When Coach Thiesse was hired to lead the program, the methods changed but the expectation of achieving success on the court, in the classroom, and through all facets of the student-athlete experience remained. I learned not just new skills to teach the game from her, but how to successfully instill a new philosophy throughout an entire program, which would help prepare me to later lead my own team."

"Within the Maverick Athletic Department, I learned how to be part of a successful team that is greater than just the one I coached. I gained new perspective and insight on the many ways lead and motivate a group of individuals toward a common goal of becoming a champion. I have been able to model my coaching style from the various winning ways to which I was introduced at Minnesota State. I left with a sense of great pride that is shared by those in the Maverick Family, which motivates me to provide such a similarly rewarding environment for others wherever I work."

It's great to be a Maverick.